Midnight Summons
by Annie-chan
Summary: Followup to Return to Nowhere. Xemnas has become concerned about the closeness between Axel and Roxas, and orders Axel to distance himself from the younger Nobody. Angsty fluff, possible OOCness, rated for some suggestive AkuRoku stuff.


**Author's Notes:** Okay, this fic is a follow up to "Return to Nowhere", which was a follow up to "Up On the Altar", which was a follow up to "Lost and Found". All four of these stories are more or less independent, so you don't have to read them in order to get what's going on. If you haven't read the others, you don't _have_ to do so before you read this, but I won't object if you do. I'll actually be quite happy if you do.

As mentioned in the other three fics, I started writing an AkuRoku fic several months ago, but that fic soon ground to a complete halt for several reasons. This was very frustrating, I can assure you. After a while, I decided the project was dead, because no matter how I tried, I couldn't force myself to continue with it. I do like several of the scenes, though, and didn't want to lose them, so I decided to edit them into one-shots and post them. This fic is the fourth in the series, as well as the last, as it's the last scene I had completely written before the project crashed. There's the possibility I might write some of the unwritten scenes as one-shots in the future, but I'm not promising anything. Those scenes might stay forever in creative limbo.

_Kingdom Hearts II_ and all related characters are property of Square-Enix and any other entities holding copyright. I'm just having a bit of fun with Axel and Roxas for the time being.

**Midnight** **Summons  
**By Annie-chan

Axel jerked awake, a violent shiver wracking his body. His breathing was labored, and a thin sheen of sweat covered his skin. Reflexively, his eyes darted around the room, searching for threats.

And then he realized that he had been woken by a nightmare. By _that_ nightmare.

Slowly, his breathing calmed down, and he was able to think straight again. One nightmare kept coming to him on a regular basis, and that had been the dream that had woken him tonight. Just like it had woken him on countless nights before. It was the memories of his last moments as a normal human, of the horror and hopelessness that had engulfed him as the darkness had engulfed his world. He had desperately made one last stand, but had been felled by the darkness almost before he could make that stand.

It was horrible.

"Mmmngh…" a soft voice suddenly purred, and he became aware of a warm, comfortable weight resting on him. That weight shifted, limbs tightening their hold on him.

"Roxas," he whispered, bringing his hand up to the boy's hair, petting him affectionately. The boy was practically wrapped around him, clinging to him even in sleep. Axel had always thought that this little habit of his was adorable, and was glad that his sudden awakening hadn't disturbed his lover.

Roxas muttered something inaudible in his sleep.

Axel chuckled, nuzzling the boy's soft hair. Sleep weighed heavily on his eyelids, and he was just letting them droop shut, giving himself back over to blissful unawareness—

—when he jerked awake yet again, sitting bolt upright with a strangled gasp, his green eyes flown wide. Roxas was practically thrown off of him, landing awkwardly on the bed beside him.

"Gah!" the boy cried, rudely awakened by his sudden impact with the mattress. "Axel…!" His voice was cut off after the redhead's name, the protest dying abruptly in his throat. A black-gloved hand had suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, a sleep spell washing over him so quickly that he had no chance to resist it. He dropped back to sleep in an instant, all memories of his brief awakening fleeing from his brain.

Axel had barely heard Roxas' outcry, instead staring in a mixture of shock and horror to the left of the bed. A tall, imposing figure, blacker than the rest of the darkness that permeated the room, stood there, a hand still hovering near Roxas' still form. Axel could see no details in the silhouette leaning slightly over him, save for the orange eyes he saw staring back at him, glowing faintly. There was no mistaking those eyes.

"S-S-Superior!" he stammered, trembling as the adrenaline rushed through his system. He could have sworn that Xemnas had not been in the room when he had glanced nervously around upon waking the first time. Now, however, the dark-skinned man was mere inches away from him, so close that Axel could hear his breathing. The redhead looked quickly down at Roxas, then back to Xemnas' face.

"Forgive me for waking you in the middle of the night," Xemnas said, though there was no hint of apology in his deep voice, "but I need to speak with you. Get dressed and meet me on the Altar."

"The…the Altar?" Axel repeated, his brain still clouded with fright.

"Yes," Xemnas nearly snapped, obviously not amused by Axel's confusion. "The Altar of Naught. I'm sure you know where it is." With that, he left, opting to disappear into a corridor of darkness rather than exit through the door. Belatedly, Axel realized that this must have been how he had appeared so suddenly at his bedside.

He looked down at Roxas. The boy was lying on his side, his breathing slow and steady. He appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Axel gently brushed his fingers against Roxas' cheek, earning a soft sigh in return. In the darkness, he could just barely see a bruise that marred the boy's porcelain skin at the juncture of his neck and shoulder. It was a physical reminder of the passion that had gripped them hours before, and Axel felt a grin stretching his lips. The neckline of Roxas' coat wouldn't cover that, so it would be on display for all to see tomorrow.

Carefully, so as not to disturb his sleeping lover, Axel got out of bed and gathered his clothing up from where it had been unceremoniously dropped. Quickly donning his pitch-black pants and coat, he had sat back down on the bed to pull his boots on when a slender arm suddenly wrapped around his waist from behind, startling him.

"Mmph," Roxas' voice grunted behind him as the boy blinked his eyes slowly. "Where're you goin'?" he drawled, almost slurring his words. Apparently, Xemnas' sleep spell had only been momentary, as it was now wearing off.

"I'm just stepping out for a few minutes, Roxas," Axel assured him, twisting around so he could see the boy.

"In the middle of the night?" Roxas countered, glancing at the clock. The neon green display read 2:17 AM.

"Just go back to sleep, Rox," Axel gently insisted, coaxing the blond's arm to loosen from his waist. "I'll be right back, I promise."

"Mmm…" was all Roxas said in return. He stilled again, which seemed to Axel that he had fallen asleep again. He pulled his boots on and quickly stood, gripping the very fabric of space with his mind and ripping it apart, opening a corridor in the darkness that surrounded everything. He stepped through, the dimensional hole sealing itself shut behind him.

Stepping out of an identical hole that opened up at the other "end" of the corridor, Axel found himself at his destination. The Altar of Naught was a wide, circular platform at the very highest point in the Castle That Never Was. He had appeared near the long flight of stairs that led up to the Altar, and he could see the lone figure of the Superior on the other side, the glow from Kingdom Hearts playing over his silver hair.

The heart-shaped "moon" seemed to be sleeping, its light diminished from the bright shine of a few months ago. Then, while the Keybearer had still been active, a fairly steady stream of reddish-pink hearts had streamed into the huge floating structure, released from the Heartless that continued to fall to the Keyblade. Now, however, the Keybearer was in hibernation, and no Heartless had found themselves under his blade since the end of the Castle Oblivion debacle. Roxas, though he was the Keybearer's Nobody, slew only a fraction of the Heartless that Sora had, so the hearts being fed to Kingdom Hearts had slowed to a mere trickle, almost ceasing altogether. Roxas had two Keyblades, but was less than one-tenth as effective in aiding Xemnas' plans as Sora had been. Kingdom Hearts had gone dormant, and with it Xemnas' designs.

"You wanted to see me, Superior?" Axel asked, his voice respectful. He had advanced across the Altar, stopping a little ways back from Xemnas' position.

Xemnas did not answer for a few moments, continuing to stare up at Kingdom Hearts. "Yes," he said finally, turning to face his fire-haired subordinate. "I have lately become troubled about something, Axel, and it's time I discussed it with you."

Axel was silent, waiting for him to continue. A nagging fear sprang up in the back of his mind. He had a feeling he knew what Xemnas had been troubled about…

"I've am concerned about your…partnership…with Roxas," Xemnas began as he moved closer to Axel, confirming his fears. "You know as well as I do what eventually must happen, and I am not optimistic about how it will affect you with the way things stand now." He stopped about two paces away from the fire-master, looking down into his eyes. "You are too close to him."

Axel stared up at Xemnas, saying nothing. He had started trembling the moment Roxas' name was mentioned, and hoped fervently that Xemnas wouldn't notice it. As close as the Superior was, however, he probably already had.

"Well?" Xemnas continued, tilting his head. "You have nothing to say to that?"

Axel lowered his head, his fists clenching. Anger had started swirling in his chest, and his trembling worsened. _How dare you say such a thing?!_ he wanted to scream out.

"It goes against what we are," Xemnas went on, walking past Axel, circling around behind him. "You know that we are unable to feel anything."

_That's not true!_ Axel screamed mentally. _That's a fucking lie!_ There was no way his love for Roxas was fake. There was no way Roxas' love for him was fake. He thought back on tears shed, on laughter shared, on the undeniable and irresistible _need_ for them to be near each other. There's no way such experiences could have happened between two beings who knew nothing of emotion. The rage he felt now was proof enough against Xemnas' assertion.

"You disagree," Xemnas said, his voice flat and dispassionate.

Axel nodded, not trusting his voice to respond without snapping at the Superior.

"Our hearts are gone," Xemnas drawled, the deep bass of his voice both soothing and disconcerting. "The very foundation of our selves, our emotions, has been ripped out by the roots. It is impossible for us to feel anything. It is what makes us Nobodies."

"We have our souls," Axel countered before he could keep himself from speaking. He mentally grimaced at the slip, but then continued. "Our hearts are gone, but our souls have been left to us. The soul is not just the driving force behind the biological functions that keep our bodies alive. Our hearts are not our whole selves, or the only source of our emotions. We feel emotions from our souls as well. We have to, or love, hate, friendship, ambition, sorrow, happiness, anger, fear…every one of those things would be foreign to us, but they're not. We know them. We _feel_. The soul is the Nobody's 'heart'." He spoke in a hushed voice, the words spilling unbidden from his lips, his voice quivering. Surely the emotion he was feeling _now_ was proof of what he was saying. He _knew_ this to be true, and wished the Superior would only _see_ that.

"You're rationalizing," Xemnas said coolly, unconvinced.

"Superior!" Axel cried, his patience snapping. "We _love_ each other!"

"No, you don't," Xemnas said bluntly. "Your attraction to each other is just a manifestation of a Nobody's greatest natural desire. You two yearn so strongly after your hearts that you have turned to each other as substitutes. It is nothing but a desperate attempt to feel 'whole' again."

Axel couldn't respond to that. He was too shocked, too completely stunned that Xemnas would even _suggest_ something like that. The love between him and Roxas was _real_! There was _nothing_ artificial about it! How _dare_ Xemnas even _think_ otherwise?!

But…but what if…what if Xemnas was telling the truth…? What if their attraction really _was_ nothing but a byproduct of their need to find their hearts again? Axel had said before that Roxas made him feel whole…

The fire-master violently shoved that thought away, feeling a wave of sickness wash over him. Such a concept was too horrible to even contemplate.

Xemnas waved his hand, as if dismissing the subject at hand. "Even if your feelings for him _were_ genuine," he said, "it would not affect what must happen in the near future."

Axel looked back up at Xemnas, a new fear welling up in his gut.

"Sometime soon, our Number XIII must be reunited with his heart," Xemnas continued, apparently not even noticing Axel's horrified expression. "After that, Roxas will be no more."

Axel drew in a shaky breath. Ever since he had first fallen in love with Roxas, he had dreaded this. Xemnas had made it widely known in the Organization that he meant for Roxas to eventually be reunited with his heart—the only one unaware of it being the boy himself—so this was no surprise to the redhead. He would sooner die than see it come to pass, however. There was no way he would willingly allow it to happen and lose his only real friend.

"Come now, Axel," Xemnas chided. "You know that it has to happen."

"It doesn't!" Axel blurted, again unable to keep his mouth shut.

"Oh?" Xemnas asked, raising an eyebrow at Axel's declaration.

"After releasing his heart with the dark Keyblade," Axel explained, "and all the way up to being put to sleep in Castle Oblivion, Sora was separate from Roxas. It did nothing to weaken or hinder him. Why can't he continue to go on that way after waking up? There's no reason to think he would be handicapped in any way. Sora will continue feeding Kingdom Hearts as he did before, and the Organization won't have to lose another member!" He spoke as if he had the Organization's interests in mind, but in reality he was desperately trying to save himself the agony of losing the one he loved.

"I will not risk it, Axel," Xemnas said firmly.

"B-but!" Axel stammered, on the verge of losing control. "He went after your Heartless with every ounce of his being, and that was _after_ he and Roxas separated! He pursued Marluxia with the same persistence!"

"_Enough_, Axel!" Xemnas nearly shouted, cutting across his subordinate's increasingly shrill voice. "What I have decided, I have decided. No amount of your whining will change my mind."

"Superior, please…!"

"I mean it, Number VIII," Xemnas growled, now very close to Axel, their faces within inches of each other. "You two are too close for my taste. Distance yourself from him. I will _not_ tolerate behavior like this when the time comes."

Axel lowered his head, shoulders slumping. It was as if all resistance had drained out of him. He just felt so tired…exhausted, even. "Yes, Superior," he murmured, his voice wavering.

Xemnas continued to crowd him for a few more seconds, then turned away and approached Kingdom Hearts again. "Out of my presence," he said simply.

The fire-master complied, feeling himself sinking back into the void between dimensions. In only seconds, he was back in his bedroom.

"_There_ you are," Roxas said, both irritation and worry in his voice. "I was starting to wonder if I should go looking for you."

"I told you to go back to sleep, Roxas," Axel said, looking at the shorter Nobody as he lounged idly on the bed.

"Couldn't," Roxas replied with a shrug. "Bed's too cold without you in here with me."

"So, what do you do on nights I'm not around?" Axel asked with a thin smile.

"I lie awake until you come back, unable to sleep for lack of your embrace," Roxas answered, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

Axel shed his black coat and boots, climbing back on the bed. "Roxas…" he whispered, reaching out and stroking the boy's smooth cheek, brushing wisps of blond hair out of stunningly blue eyes.

Roxas purred, a soft smile sliding over his lips as he nuzzled Axel's hand, wanting more of the gentle touch. His own small hand came up and rested against Axel's, holding it to his face. Turning his head slightly, he pressed a tender kiss to the warm palm.

Axel smiled, watching the boy's little display of affection. He knew that Xemnas was wrong. There was nothing unreal about the feelings between them. It was not just a desperate compensation for what they both lacked. This was love. Genuine, soul-shaking, all-consuming love.

"Oh, Roxas," Axel sighed, lying down next to his lover, gently drawing the blond to him and holding him close. "I'd die without you, Rox."

"Mm…don't say things like that," Roxas whispered, his warm breath ghosting over Axel's lips. He didn't resist when he felt a hand press against his nape, pulling him into a warm, achingly soft kiss. He quivered, gripping Axel's shoulders as he kissed back.

"I want you," Axel almost moaned when he broke the kiss, "but I'm so tired."

"Then, how about later this morning before breakfast?" Roxas suggested, his kiss-moistened lips curving upward. "It would work us up a good appetite."

"You got yourself a deal," Axel grinned, stroking Roxas' bare hip. The boy was still naked, having had no reason to redress since the two of them had fallen into bed together the night before.

"Go to sleep, then, Axel," Roxas urged, carding his fingers through red hair. "You look exhausted."

"Mmm…I am," Axel conceded, inching slightly lower so he could lay his head against Roxas' chest. "I love you, Roxas."

Roxas chuckled. "Love you, too."

Axel felt an elated smile stretch his lips when he heard those words. After all the anger and desperation of his "discussion" with Xemnas, hearing that tiny phrase was the one thing that could make him happy at this moment.

Within minutes, listening to Roxas softly hum a lullaby into his hair, he slid off into sleep again, losing himself in blissful unawareness.

**End**

**Author's Notes:** All right, so how did you guys like it? I know Axel and Roxas are probably a bit OOC, but I hope that's not a problem. The beginning refers to a flashback/nightmare scene I meant to have in the original fic, but didn't think would do well as a one-shot, and is therefore unedited and unposted. If you think the beginning is too vague, forgive me. I don't think it is, but you never know.

This fic is about a month or so later than I meant it to be, because of various things that kept popping up to prevent me from doing it. I hope you guys like it. I rather do.

Please let me know what you think of this. Reviews and/or emails are always appreciated. If you're going to be negative, please be nice about it. Flames will be printed out, shredded, and used to line my niece's gerbil cage.


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